Hon Speaker, as members of this House, we have all sworn allegiance to the Constitution, that we will uphold the Constitution with all its provisions. We, as Cope, are worried that the events of last Monday suggest that the Constitution is being blatantly abused by the police. They are offending against the Constitution, while we all watch and say nothing!
About eight provisions of the Constitution have been violated. For example, the Bill of Rights has been violated by the police by their refusal to allow citizens of this country to participate or act in, or attend any gathering that is legal.
We say that if this House is silent about this flagrant abuse of power by the police - the simple words of the police, refusing to allow a person to participate in any activities - we are, in fact, beginning to go down a slippery path. We are indeed beginning to go down the path of the Mugabe syndrome.
We, as this House, therefore condemn this behaviour and want to know what the executive is doing about this.